Powerful men AND women are most likely to have affairs and cheat

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One of the oldest accepted notions is that men are more likely to stray than women.But scientists now believe that it is a person's power, rather than gender, that plays the greatest role in infidelity.A team of researchers conducted an anonymous Internet survey of 1,561 adults - the bonus of an online study being that respondents are far more likely to answer truthfully.They found that there is a higher risk of unfaithfulness in people of positions of power, no matter the sex.

Modern age: Scientists now believe that it is a person's power, rather than gender, that plays the greatest role in infidelityLead researcher Joris Lammers said: 'There has been a lot of research in the past that indicates that gender is the strongest predictor of infidelity, but none of these studies have been done on powerful women.'
The survey was geared toward professionals.The respondents varied greatly in levels of power - 58 per cent had a non-management function; 22 per cent had a management function; 14 per cent were in middle-management and 6 per cent were in a top management position.

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The researchers measured power by asking participants to indicate, by clicking with a mouse, how powerful they thought they were.Professor Lammers and his team also measured other variants such as confidence, distance and the ! percepti on of risk as it relates to infidelity.
He said: 'People often assume that powerful men may be more likely to cheat because they have risk-taking personalities or because of distance, such as frequent business trips that many powerful people go on.'We found little correlation between either of the two.'

'As more women are in greater positions of power and are considered equal to men, then familiar assumptions about their behaviourwill change'

The study revealed two key discoveries to why powerful people cheat.First, there is a strong association between power and confidence, and the amount of confidence a person has is the strongest link between power and unfaithfulness.Second, the researchers found that among powerful people, gender made no difference in past digressions or the participants desires to cheat.
And, the study said, we as a society do not hear about more women cheating because there simply arent as many women in positions of power as their male counterparts.However, Professor Lammers - noting that evolution is not a fixed process and neither are gender labels - believes that as society modernises many gender differences will disappear.
'As a social psychologist, I believe that the situation is everything and that the situation or instance is often stronger than the individual,' he said.'As more and more women are in greater positions of power and are considered equal to men, then familiar assumptions about their behaviour may also change.'This may lead to increased negative behaviours among women that in the past have been more common among men.'